Former Starbucks and Levi’s Executive Michael Kobori joins Avalo to accelerate agriculture’s resilience revolution

Kobori brings unique food and fiber systems expertise to help Avalo as they launch more sustainable cotton, sugarcane and more.

DURHAM, NC, UNITED STATES, March 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Michael Kobori, former board director of Bunge Global SA, former Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks, and former Vice President of Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co, has joined the board at Avalo, an advanced crop-innovation company using AI to rapidly accelerate the creation of sustainable crop varieties.

Kobori’s career has focused on efficiency and sustainability in complex agricultural supply chains like fashion and food, making him an exciting addition to Avalo’s team who are focused on evolving the agricultural system from “seed to store.”

“In Michael, we found someone as obsessed with changing the agricultural status quo as we are. We’ve shown him that we now have the technology and tools to rebuild these systems from first principles,” said Avalo CEO and co-founder Brendan Collins. “Michael’s pragmatic experience implementing sustainability at some of the world’s most beloved and customer-obsessed brands, along with guiding one of the largest agricultural supply chain companies on the board at Bunge, is exactly the practical leadership we need to ensure our products reach the market and deliver the most impact.”

As Levi's sustainability lead, a member of the Cotton Board, and founding Council member of the Better Cotton Initiative, Michael also brings a deep passion and understanding of commercializing sustainable cotton, which is Avalo’s first scale-up crop. In 2026 Avalo is introducing its Low-Carbon American cotton to the marketplace which will help fashion brands address historically hard-to-tackle scope 3 emissions, while simultaneously creating more value for farmers.

However, unlike other Agtech companies whose role ends at gene discovery, Avalo delivers innovation downstream to farmers, manufacturers, processors and brands in order to improve efficiency and sustainability across the entire supply chain. To do this, Avalo has developed eight proprietary AI models that guide breeding, seed production, agronomy and processing optimization.

“I am thrilled to join the Board of such a transformational company,” says Michael Kobori. “By using AI to accelerate development of more productive and resilient crops, Avalo will improve farmer livelihoods and drive value across the agricultural supply chain.”

Though cotton is Avalo’s flagship crop, the company has already begun the march to expand its impact on other critical global staples like lowering the carbon footprint of sugarcane by partnering with industry shapers like Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. Says Mariano Alvarez, Avalo’s other co-founder and Chief Science Officer: “We created a technology platform that can improve any industry, because we know every industry must evolve to address the critical agricultural challenges of the next century.”


About Avalo
Avalo Inc. is an AI-power crop evolution company based in Durham, North Carolina. Their novel Rapid Evolution Platform™ uses interpretable machine learning to commercialize impactful crop traits faster and more affordably than conventional breeding or GMO. Their mission is to create a more sustainable, efficient, and equitable food system by creating resilient and productive crops that require less inputs. Avalo Inc. was founded in 2019.

Avalo Inc - LinkedIn
Avalo.AI - Instagram

Nicholas Schwanz
Avalo Inc.
+1 208-869-9801
email us here

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.